maddslacker wrote:I like Buff Creek, but it's by no means my favorite.

Totally agree with this right here. Pretty good? Sure. Best trail in the world? Hardly. But that's my 2 cents.

This all goes back the the "geographic skewing" of the ratings. A certain level of accessibility is required to ride a trail. We'd probably all put The Whole Enchilada and The Downieveille Downhill ahead of Buff Creek, but how often do we actually get to ride those? But Buff Creek is always there for us, without requiring us to take a week's vacation or dip into the kids college fund. Maybe it deserves extra points on that account.

Gdb49 wrote:This all goes back the the "geographic skewing" of the ratings. A certain level of accessibility is required to ride a trail. We'd probably all put The Whole Enchilada and The Downieveille Downhill ahead of Buff Creek, but how often do we actually get to ride those? But Buff Creek is always there for us, without requiring us to take a week's vacation or dip into the kids college fund. Maybe it deserves extra points on that account.

Great point. I have the Whoe Enchilada on the top of my list for the spring, so I'm glad to hear you rate it so highly. Looked crazy good on the video.[/quote]

Just be sure it's rideable. The top of the route is 11K feet, so it doesn't melt out until late spring or even summer in a good snow year (and by then, the bottom of the route is scorching hot). Fall is best, plus you get the aspens up high! But even if you go in spring and are limited to just the original porc, you're still getting a primo ride! It's pretty impossible to not have a great time even if you can't do the whole thing.

Just be sure it's rideable. The top of the route is 11K feet, so it doesn't melt out until late spring or even summer in a good snow year (and by then, the bottom of the route is scorching hot). Fall is best, plus you get the aspens up high! But even if you go in spring and are limited to just the original porc, you're still getting a primo ride! It's pretty impossible to not have a great time even if you can't do the whole thing.[/quote]

Looking for an epic spring trip. Would Fruita be better in the spring and hit Moab/ The Whole Encilada in the fall? Thinking of taking one of those 3 day MTB coarses somewhere outside of the area, to learn and experience a new biking area. Any suggestions on areas or camps? Tired of sucking, need to take a class and speed this process up!

I did a 3-day BetterRide camp and it was worth every penny. The improvement in my techncial skills was fantastic. The unexpected benefit was that the improvement in technique meant I could execute difficult moves while expending much less energy--so the improvement in efficiency translated directly into not getting winded so easily and added endurance for long rides.

Ditto on Fruita and Moab. Even if you can't ride the very top of the Whole Enchilada (Burro pass or Burro and Hazzard), just hitting UPS, LPS and/or just the old Porc proper, you're gonna have a great time . . . + all the other magnificent stuff Moab has. Ditto Fruita. Since they're reasonably close to the Front Range, you should have no trouble hitting one or both each season.

My personal preference is to hit Fruita in the Spring and Moab in the Fall, and try to squeeze in another trip to one or both somewhere else along the line. Since Fruita is on the way to/from moab, you can always hit both (and other great rides along the I-70 corridor )in a single trip (time permitting).

Sold. I had heard good things about BetterRide, but it's nice to hear it from someone without a vested interest. Looked them up and they give lessons in several great spots. Wish I didn't have to wait for spring. Thanks for another great peice of advice.

Here's a list of singletracks I would ride ahead of Buff Creek. While the length of the list might imply I don't think highly of Buff Creek, nothing could be further from the truth--there's just a lot of really stupendous singletrack out there! (and these don't even take into account all those still left on my bucket list--I haven't even ridden Crested Butte or Durango).

Skibum, Wow what a list! All but one in Colorado was already on my dream list and the Downieville downhill from California. Will try to ride your list and shoot you a thank you when I'm done. Most of the states are in my travel radius, so it might happen within a year or two. Hopefully Arizona and NM can be hit this winter- Sedona looked awesome. Thanks for all the time you put into your response.

Okay, I've made the list for next season. Took all the Colorado trails listed on the top 100 and added all the trails listed on this thread. I will also hit Crested Butte and Fruita heavily and sneak a couple out of state trails. Thanks for all the input, could not have put together this high of a quality of a list without your help.Buffalo CreekMonarch CrestColorado Trail18 Roads TrailTrail 401Kokopelli Area TrailsHall RanchLair O’ The Bear3 Sisters/AlderferBergen ParkMount Falcon ParkDoctor ParkPeaks TrailRed Rocks/Dakota RidgeBrockover Mesa/Turkey SpringsWhite RanchLunch loop/TabeguachePhils WorldPalmer ParkWalker RanchDeer Creek CanyonApex ParkHTMPHermosa Creek TrailFalcon TrailHartman RocksCopper TriangleCentenial Cone ParkReno/Flag/Bear/DeadmanRed HillGolden Gate CanyonCheyenne Mtn State ParkLimbaugh CanyonMonument trails/ Stoopid TrailPeaceful ValleySourdough TrailsSouth Saint VrainBuchanan PassDevils Backbone

Gdb49 wrote:Okay, I've made the list for next season. Took all the Colorado trails listed on the top 100 and added all the trails listed on this thread. I will also hit Crested Butte and Fruita heavily and sneak a couple out of state trails. Thanks for all the input, could not have put together this high of a quality of a list without your help.Buffalo CreekMonarch CrestColorado Trail18 Roads TrailTrail 401Kokopelli Area TrailsHall RanchLair O’ The Bear3 Sisters/AlderferBergen ParkMount Falcon ParkDoctor ParkPeaks TrailRed Rocks/Dakota RidgeBrockover Mesa/Turkey SpringsWhite RanchLunch loop/TabeguachePhils WorldPalmer ParkWalker RanchDeer Creek CanyonApex ParkHTMPHermosa Creek TrailFalcon TrailHartman RocksCopper TriangleCentenial Cone ParkReno/Flag/Bear/DeadmanRed HillGolden Gate CanyonCheyenne Mtn State ParkLimbaugh CanyonMonument trails/ Stoopid TrailPeaceful ValleySourdough TrailsSouth Saint VrainBuchanan PassDevils Backbone